2024 #GABF Friday Photos

As I mentioned in X is for EquinoX Brewing, this past weekend was GABF.

Like last year, we attended GABF with some of the Beer Model's brothers.

Unlike last year (and most years) we only attended the Friday night session.

I honestly don't have much to share about the Fest itself. It was creatively organized in a way that I was unable to figure out to find breweries. Maybe if I had attended more than one session it would have made more sense to me.

Regardless, it was fun.

Here are some random pictures ...

X is for EquinoX Brewing

Yes, we're getting close to the end of the 5th round of the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts.

It blows my mind how quickly we've been marking off breweries this time around.

I posted A is for AC Golden Tank Room in August of last year, and was already at W is for Wanderment Brewing earlier this month.

As I mentioned in W is for Wanderment Brewing, my choices for "X" in the Colorado Brewery Map & List are very limited.

In fact, I really didn't see anything to hit in the Denver area.

As luck would have it, this past weekend was GABF weekend, and some the SheppyBrew Beer Model's brothers were visiting from out of town.

On Thursday before GABF, they wanted to visit Fort Collins, and during the time we were up there, we were able to hit ...

X is for EquinoX Brewing

2023 #GABF Saturday Photos

I posted 2023 #GABF Friday Photos just a couple days ago.

As I mentioned, I took a break from my Great Cycle Challenge for the weekend to attend both the Friday night and Saturday afternoon sessions. 

Sunday was a rest day.

As I post this, I have actually finished up my #1000MileSeptember, so I was fine taking that break.

The Saturday afternoon "Brewers Only" session has always been my favorite session.

It was interesting have family attend with us.

Anyway ... here are some photos from Saturday night ...

2023 #GABF Friday Photos

This past weekend, I took a break from my Great Cycle Challenge.

Don't worry, I'll still finish my #1000MileSeptember with miles to spare.

There is still plenty of time to donate to fight kids cancer ...

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard

This year, the Great American Beer Fest was earlier in the year by a couple of weeks than usual, so it interrupted the Great Cycle Challenge. Next year it will be back in October so I won't have to worry about it.

Anyhoo ... it is a tradition for the Beer Model (aka my wife) to attend GABF. 

Like usual, we attended both Friday night and Saturday afternoon ...

I is for {"Immersion Brewing","Immigrant Son Brewery","Independence Brewing","Independent Brewing Company","Insight Brewing Company","Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company"}

If you're following along on this round of the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts, you know that we recently checked "H" off the list.

H is for Holidaily Brewing Company (DTC)

If you're familiar with the English alphabet, you realize that next up is "I".

In previous rounds ... "I" has an interesting history to the posts.

The first time through the list, we did I is for IronWorks Brewery and Pub. At the time, it was the only "I" brewery I could find in the Denver area.

By the time we got to round 2, Iron Works had closed, but another "I" brewery had popped up, and we did I is for [The] Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project.

When we got to round 3, Intrepid Sojourner had closed and we headed down to Castle Rock for I is for Iron Mule Brewery.

Thankfully, Iron Mule hasn't closed, but we don't have any more local "I" breweries.

2022 #GABF Pictures

As you saw if you follow SheppyBrew on Instagram or Facebook, the Beer Model and I attended the Great American Beer Festival last weekend.

If you have been following this blog for awhile, you know that we attend the GABF just about every year.

It is always in Denver and as a member of the American Homebrewers Association, I'm allowed to buy tickets before the general public. 

And it is fun, so the Beer Model and I make the effort to get there.

See Sheppy's Blog: GABF to see all the blog posts I've done.

Of course, we have not been since 2019, because it was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

We attended the Friday night session and the Saturday "brewers only" session again this year.

2019 #GABF Pictures

Well, as you saw if you follow SheppyBrew on Instagram or Facebook, the Beer Model and I attended the Great American Beer Festival again this year.

As always, it was fun.

I didn't do a great job of documenting the beers that I really liked this year. The GABF app changed, making it more difficult to use. I didn't bring paper and pen as I did in past years.

However ... I did note a couple beers / breweries that stood out for me.

I really liked everything I tried at Drake's Brewing Company.  1500 Pale Ale and Smoked Brette Davis Eyes were both fantastic.

There was a Neapolitan Milk Stout at Saugatuck Brewing Company. This isn't the kind of  beer that I would drink a bunch of, but I was really impressed with the way the brewers nailed a beer whose flavors reminded me of the name.

My favorite beer of the first night was "Barrel Aged Edison" from Chapman's Brewing Company.

2018 #GABF Photos

Well, as you probably know, the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I go to the Great American Beer Festival almost every year.

Like last year, since I'm so far behind getting blog posts up, I won't say much about this year's except:

• It was fun as always
• The food trucks they had this year were much better food than the regular vendors
• I do not like Brut IPA's
• I do seem to like Milk Shake IPA's
• It didn't feel quite as crowded this year
• I really liked hitting the State Brewery Guilds.
• For the first time, I used the GABF Phone App to take notes, and it was much better than carrying pen and paper.
• Getting into the building was even a smoother process than in past years.

2017 #GABF Photos

Well, as you probably know, the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I go to the Great American Beer Festival almost every year.

Since I'm so far behind getting blog posts up, I won't say much about this year's except it was fun as always.

Here are some pictures:

2016 #GABF Members Only

Well... if you read my post yesterday (see 2016 #GABF Friday Night), you know that the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I were planning on attending GABF again for the Members' Only Saturday afternoon session of GABF.

And indeed we did.

Again, we got in very fast. Much faster than any previous Saturday Sessions we've ever been to.

It was awesome.

2016 #GABF Friday Night

Well ... as you probably know, last night was the Friday Session of the Great American Beer Fest.

As per tradition, the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I attended.

As always, there was lots of beer. And lots of fun. And interesting sites.

Following are some of the pictures from last night ...

Enjoy ...

#GABF Friday Night

The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I attended the Great American Beer Festival last night.

We have attended every year for the past several. Since 2010 I think. It is always fun.

This year, they added another pretty big hall, making it almost a totally new experience. Of course, they added more people so it was just as crowded, but we of course survived.

They also added a second entrance this year. I am always amazed how fast they are able to get people into the festival despite just a huge line. This year the second entrance made it even faster. I was even more amazed.

The new entrance brought us into the "meet the brewer" hall. The idea behind this area was that every brewery needed to have brewers on staff pouring beers at all times. There were a bunch of breweries here.

#GABF Begins Today

Actually, the 2015 Great American Beer Festival began last night for the public and earlier in the week for Breweries.

But tonight is when the 2015  Great American Beer Festival begins for me.

Usually, I have a pretty detailed "game plan" going into every GABF session. This time, I'm not sure I will. I may just follow my wife (whom I think has something of a plan) around and see what happens.

Maybe I'll get more organized for the Saturday Session.

This year, the physical area of the the event has increased quite a bit. This is nice, but of course they fill it with more breweries and more people, so I expect it will be just as crowded.

I will probably want to attend at least one session in the Beer & Food Pavilion. All of them look interesting for tonight:

6:30 pm - 7:00 pm  Old Beer and Stinky Cheese
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm  Sam Adams and Red Robin Burger Pairing
8:30 pm - 9:30 pm  Beer and Cheese Pairings: Ingredients and the American Way

I am less interested in the Brewers Studio Pavilion Schedule, but we may stop by one of these:

6:30 pm - 7:00 pm  Rogue Ales: The Grow-Your-Own Revolution
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm  Employee-Owned Breweries
8:30 pm - 9:30 pm  The Evolution of In-Process versus Finished Versions of Barrel-Aged Brews

Anyway, I guess I'll treat tonight as a reconnaissance mission and see what is up for Saturday's session.

I'm Excited.

If you want to look at any of my GABF beer posts (including this one), check out Sheppy's Blog: GABF

CHEERS!

Still More @Untappd Badges 17.5 #GABF Edition

Well, just a few days ago I let you know that I was sick of typing Still More @Untappd Badges 17, so I stopped. I promised that I would follow up with a "special edition of the @Untappd Badges".

So here we go.

Usually, in the past I don't check into very many beers at GABF.  This year, I didn't at the festival either, but when I got home I checked into all the beers that I had written down during the festival (which was a lot).

Obviously, first and foremost, we have ... 

Some Thoughts on #GABF Award Winners

If you've been following this blog, you know that I attended a couple of GABF sessions last weekend (see 2014 #GABF Members Session and Friday Night #GABF). It was an overwhelming spectacle, and awesomely fun.

But, man, is that a lot of beer!

The competition winners were announced pretty early on Saturday, and you can look at the list at GABF Winners.

For what it is worth, California won the most medals at 46. Colorado won the second most at 39. Those two states together won almost a third of the total medals. Half the medals were won by top 5 states (California: 46, Colorado: 39, Oregan: 22, Texas: 16, Pennsyvania: 12).

2014 #GABF Members Session

Yesterday, of course, was the Members'-Only session of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Of course, the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I attended. It was, of course, a great time.

The members-only session is my favorite. It is one of the great benefits of being an AHA member. In fact, I know people who became AHA members just so they could buy tickets to this session of the GABF.

We got in line pretty early, but even still, we were about 3/4 of the way around the Convention Center. The line went really quick once the doors opened, though. We were in the festival before 15 after.

Big crowd on the way in.

They let the line spread out sooner before the doors this year. I thought this was going to cause a nightmare mess, but it turned out very well. 

Friday Night #GABF

The Beer Model and I attended the Great American Beer Festival last night.

Great Festival as always.

You probably remember from yesterday, that we went in with a "plan".

We got there late because of having to drop off the kids and taking a new light-rail route with which we were a bit unfamiliar. The nice thing about getting there late is that the line is practically gone. I didn't really feel like we missed all that much either.

I didn't start off with E16 Russian River Brewing Company, but I did come around to it eventually to check Supplication off my my Best Beers in America List. I got lucky on the line and it only took me 4 minutes to get to the front. I have a feeling that the line would have been longer at the beginning of the night, so for this beer, it was a blessing in disguise to get to the festival late. I do think that Supplication was the best sour that I had all night. And I had several.

2014 #GABF Friday Night Plan

I always go into the Great American Beer Fest with a game plan. I think the main reason is that 600 different breweries in one place is sort of intimidating. Having a plan helps me stay focused and I think it enhances my beer fest enjoyment.

This year, my wife has taken the time to do a "plan" so part of my plan is to go where she wants to go. I guess that is fair considering most years I get to dictate where we go during the fest.

Unfortunately, her plan involves Pumpkin Beers. Berry Beers. Cream Beers. And Peanut Butter Beers.

Can you imagine having to drink several different Pumpkin beers in one night? Yeesh!

So, here is my plan ...

Getting ready for the 2014 #GABF

It should come as no surprise to you that I am attending this year's Great American Beer Fest. I am, in fact, fortunate enough to have tickets for both myself and my wife to attend Friday Night and Saturday Afternoon (the members-only session).

I don't really have a plan this year. Maybe one will formulate before Friday.

The beers at the festival were released just a couple hours ago. I have not spent a whole lot of time looking at it, but I did check the beers left on my (Zymurgy's) Best Beer in America list. Of the beers that I still need to try on the list, only Russian River Supplication will be served at the festival.

Generally speaking, I tend to stay away from long lines at GABF, and usually Russian River has one of the longest lines. I am trying to decide if it is worth the effort to check off one beer if I have to wait in this long line.

I guess we will have to wait and see what I decide.

Still left on "my" list:

#5. The Alchemist Heady Topper ... Brewery will not be at GABF
#6. Lagunitas Sucks ... Have a bottle at home
#28 Russian River Pliney Younger ... not on the beer list
#30 Russian River Supplication ... The only beer on this list at GABF ... E16
#39 (Tie). Russian River Consecration ... Have a bottle at home
#39 (Tie) Troegs Nugget Nector ... Brewery at U25, but this beer is not on the list
#49 (Tie). Founder's Backwoods Bastard ... Brewery will not be at GABF

Thoughts on 2013 #GABF Winners

So, you know the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I attended GABF this weekend. See 2013 #GABF Friday Night  and 2013 #GABF Members Session if you want to read about it.

I didn't really get much of a chance Saturday or Sunday to look through the competition winners. Now that I have looked through, I have some thoughts.

Fair warning ... I'm a bit of a "homer" when it comes to my favorite breweries. I actually make an effort to stay away from local breweries at the festival, because I want to try beers that I might not get as much a chance to otherwise. However, I still am a fan of Drinking Locally.